How much internship/relevant work experience do college students usually have?

[Ns1]

if you don't have internships/job experience by the time you graduate you better have mad connections.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I fucked up so bad not doing internships during college cause I was too busy trying to get a paycheck.

If I could go back I would do unpaid internships all day.

 

[gorcorps]

I fucked up so bad not doing internships during college cause I was too busy trying to get a paycheck.

If I could go back I would do unpaid internships all day.

What field are you in that you couldn't get a paid internship? My internships were both over $15/hr... I thought the days of unpaid internships were over

 

[AznAnarchy99]

What field are you in that you couldn't get a paid internship? My internships were both over $15/hr... I thought the days of unpaid internships were over

At the time, entertainment/business. Way too many people willing to do unpaid internships in Los Angeles. Spent all my time working IT at the school making good money at $17/hour doing pretty much nothing. Now I'm stuck working an IT job I'm trying to get out of. :/

 

[Cappuccino]

At the time, entertainment/business. Way too many people willing to do unpaid internships in Los Angeles. Spent all my time working IT at the school making good money at $17/hour doing pretty much nothing. Now I'm stuck working an IT job I'm trying to get out of. :/

Why did you quit Porn? and why are you hating your IT job? Could you tell us your salary?

 

[Cappuccino]

Where I go to school you only have to get accepted into the college of engineering then declare aerospace. Getting in isn't really the issue, it's staying in. My class started out at something like 130 people, that dropped to around 80 after somphmore year. Right now our graduating class is about 60, 37 of which are actually graduating and not continuing on with masters.

I see. So 130/37 graduated? That is more than 50% failing!?!!?!!?? Is this normal? I mean don't you guys pay like 20k USD per year? In the UK we pay 9K GBP per year. Just wondering, I have no idea how the US function. D:

 

[Ns1]

At the time, entertainment/business. Way too many people willing to do unpaid internships in Los Angeles. Spent all my time working IT at the school making good money at $17/hour doing pretty much nothing. Now I'm stuck working an IT job I'm trying to get out of. :/

I work in entertainment/business if you want to get back into it.

 

[Cappuccino]

Eh, in the US there are plenty of Aero programs that are easy enough to get into. Insane test scores just get you a bigger bill and a more prestigious name on your diploma. (true of all US engineering programs actually)

In the US as long as you can pass the classes engineering doesn't have a huge barrier to entry.

Of course, passing the classes can be brutal.

Wait what test? Don't you guys pick like 3/4 main subjects (BIO, Maths, Chem, English Lit, History, etc etc) then straight to University? You need X Y Z grade in your 3/4 main subject you took and progress from there. In the UK it's called A Levels. So for Engineering, you need AAA or AAB (A levels) if you want to attend a top University. You can get away with ABB or BBB if you want to attend low/mid tier Unis. Im talking so dumb but I actually have no clue how the US workz. So you just do a test and if you do good you get accepted in your choosen University? Care to explain? :\

 

[gorcorps]

At the time, entertainment/business. Way too many people willing to do unpaid internships in Los Angeles. Spent all my time working IT at the school making good money at $17/hour doing pretty much nothing. Now I'm stuck working an IT job I'm trying to get out of. :/

Ah, that makes more sense then... that would have been a tough call :\

 

[Anubis]

Wait what test? Don't you guys pick like 3/4 main subjects (BIO, Maths, Chem, English Lit, History, etc etc) then straight to University? You need X Y Z grade in your 3/4 main subject you took and progress from there. In the UK it's called A Levels. So for Engineering, you need AAA or AAB (A levels) if you want to attend a top University. You can get away with ABB or BBB if you want to attend low/mid tier Unis. Im talking so dumb but I actually have no clue how the US workz. So you just do a test and if you do good you get accepted in your choosen University? Care to explain? :\

no the system in the US is totally different

when he said "insane test scores" hes talking about the SAT. which is the general test that all HS students take, it gives you a somewhat meaningless score that really only shows how well you took that specific test, but schools use it to poorly judge how smart people are. the better you score the better your chances at getting into a top school/uni are. However not all schools even require you to put them on the ap. top score does not always guarantee getting in, as people can have shit grades in school and ace the test. and people who score not as well can get into top school based on any number of other factors

 

[videogames101]

Wait what test? Don't you guys pick like 3/4 main subjects (BIO, Maths, Chem, English Lit, History, etc etc) then straight to University? You need X Y Z grade in your 3/4 main subject you took and progress from there. In the UK it's called A Levels. So for Engineering, you need AAA or AAB (A levels) if you want to attend a top University. You can get away with ABB or BBB if you want to attend low/mid tier Unis. Im talking so dumb but I actually have no clue how the US workz. So you just do a test and if you do good you get accepted in your choosen University? Care to explain? :\

It's completely different over here. Entry is very much subjective, but usually requires a minimum on the SAT or ACT admission tests. :thumbsup:

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

1) Good grades
2) willingness to learn
3) internship .....

... you better bust ass at your internship. Don't coast! You should be dmenading to be forced to learn new things and be challenged. This is the only way that 3 matters. I recently interviewed a kid that did 3 summers at GM for software. Didn't know design patterns, software engineering (talking clueless as to what waterfall and agile/XP are).

So his internship was pointless.

 

[kt]

Who has time to work during the semester? Between home work from non-major classes and never ending programming projects I didn't have time.

I worked part-time during school year and full-time during summer. And I didn't even do it for the experience but for the money to pay for school. Experience was the bonus. You do what you have to do to juggle things around. Of course, it helped that my job was pretty kick back and I was able to do my homework during the off time.

 

[kyrax12]

1) Good grades
2) willingness to learn
3) internship .....

... you better bust ass at your internship. Don't coast! You should be dmenading to be forced to learn new things and be challenged. This is the only way that 3 matters. I recently interviewed a kid that did 3 summers at GM for software. Didn't know design patterns, software engineering (talking clueless as to what waterfall and agile/XP are).

So his internship was pointless.

Not going to lie, but I don't think accounting interviews are technical.. Just behavioral/conversational.

I am not sure about engineering interviews though. However, I do agree with you that learning is a pivotal component in an internship.

 

[Fox5]

Who has time to work during the semester? Between home work from non-major classes and never ending programming projects I didn't have time.

Take one less class a semester and pick up a (relevant) part-time job instead. 10 hours a week should be doable and will look a lot better than graduating a semester or two earlier.

 

[IronWing]

Every new grad I've interviewed in the past few years has had internship experience. This is a huge change from when I graduated when maybe 5% of students had done internships. The quality of internship experiences varied widely with some students gaining useful experience while others counted staples or, worse, spent their internship observing work instead of doing work.

 

[96Firebird]

i went to drexel, which i think is ranked 95th(?) in the US. it's pretty good. the other big engineering school with a co-op program is Georgia Tech (to which i also applied, oddly enough). both very good schools.

The college I graduated from (BSME from Rochester Institute of Technology) also had a good co-op program, min. 1 year for engineering graduates. They also help with job opportunities when graduating, which is great.

Requiring co-op experience should be more wide-spread, even if it means I was "in school" for 5 years instead of 4. But they don't charge tuition when you're in co-op.

 

[DainBramaged]

I'm doing law school right now. Internships are essential if you want a good job, with "good job" meaning not hanging your own shingle or working at a general practice firm. I'm halfway through my first semester and I just lined up summer work

 

[DainBramaged]

if you don't have internships/job experience by the time you graduate you better have mad connections.

^^

 

[CountZero]

I don't think anyone we've phone screened has made it to an in person interview without internship experience.

In other words we have considered people without the internship experience but the correlation between good candidates and internships has been very high.

Furthermore in engineering internships are all paid and likely pay better than any other summer job you could be doing so if you haven't done at least one between junior and senior year it looks like you have put zero effort into thinking about your career.

This is in EE for what its worth.

 

[Cappuccino]

I'm doing law school right now. Internships are essential if you want a good job, with "good job" meaning not hanging your own shingle or working at a general practice firm. I'm halfway through my first semester and I just lined up summer work

I know this sound ridiculous and obvious but not all degrees need intership experiences, in fact only some do. The so called 'hard degree' I.e engineering and Law stated above. Also all medicine related degree must have intership experience if you want a yearly salarie. Just sayian

 

[Cappuccino]

It's completely different over here. Entry is very much subjective, but usually requires a minimum on the SAT or ACT admission tests. :thumbsup:

Oh I see. No idea what SAT test is like. I assume it's equivalent to A levels? But surely it's not since you need at least 1 year study to even know the basics, I don't know maybe it's GCSE equivalent? Just how hard are these sats questions...

 

[Cappuccino]

no the system in the US is totally different

when he said "insane test scores" hes talking about the SAT. which is the general test that all HS students take, it gives you a somewhat meaningless score that really only shows how well you took that specific test, but schools use it to poorly judge how smart people are. the better you score the better your chances at getting into a top school/uni are. However not all schools even require you to put them on the ap. top score does not always guarantee getting in, as people can have shit grades in school and ace the test. and people who score not as well can get into top school based on any number of other factors

Gotcha. On paper, the US version seems very straight forward. The UK route is very stressful. From what you stated it seems even the dumb people can get into good unis. I dunno.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Gotcha. On paper, the US version seems very straight forward. The UK route is very stressful. From what you stated it seems even the dumb people can get into good unis. I dunno.

Yes but most schools don't want the 100% book smart people anymore. You can have meh scores but do other things and get in. School president, captain of a team, club, etc.

 

[Cappuccino]

Yes but most schools don't want the 100% book smart people anymore. You can have meh scores but do other things and get in. School president, captain of a team, club, etc.

That won't happen in Oxford or Cambridge for sure. Heck not even the top 50 Unis. Hitting the requirement grades is the only way to get into Uni, regardless what you achieved outside of school. Sometimes they accept you in if you missed the grade by 2-3 marks, you may get away with this, but this only occurs in low/mid tier unis. Rarely happen in top unis.

'School president, captain of a team, club, etc' I kinda lol'd at this because this happens so often in Anime lol.

What about if the US student want to come to the UK to study? Surely it's different then? Just thought about this, just popped up in my mind.
The score system is different, so how? I don't know the answer to this, I wan't to know actually

Typed on HTC.